Dangote Threatens To Stop Tomato Paste Production In Nigeria

Few days after Erisco departed Nigeria, Dangote Industries has threatened to stop tomato paste production because of harsh business condition and environment.

Group Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited, Alhaji Sani Dangote said the group recently stopped tomato paste production because the environment gives advantage to imported products.

Speaking at the Zero Hunger Committee 2nd group meeting in Abuja, he expressed profound dissatisfaction over the delay on the part of the ministries and agencies involved to address the
issue of tomato importation.

“We are not looking for forex. We are only saying that government should put up a policy where we are producing tomato concentrate to those industries that are into packaging; we are not into retail packaging,” he said.

So, that about 30 of those retail companies in Nigeria that are importing would stop and buy from us and repackage into smaller sachets, tins and so on.

“If we are talking about importers and we are talking about local producers; there is no way we can have a common ground because they are looking at 100 per cent import and we are looking at 100 per cent local production.

He pointed out that countries like China give their people huge support and waivers that allow them access to finance that they do not really feel the forex crunch being faced by their Nigerian competitors.